The Cabin
by AmethystDreamer
Summary: Set in the LA universe. Cappie and Casey take a vacation for the Holidays. greek was not one of the presents I recieved today.


"The only thing I miss about Chicago is the chance of a white Christmas." Casey sighed, late one night, a few days before Christmas. "It's so beautiful here, but the rain, the grey sky; it just isn't like it should be."

Cappie was focusing on drawing patterns on her bare shoulder. "I've never seen snow."

She stared at him in shock. "Never seen snow? How? It's the most amazing sight ever, the way the sun glints off of the snow, and it sparkles like diamonds." Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, Cap, you've never even had a snowball fight. That's so sad."

He smiled a secret smile that had her grinning too. "Okay, what is it?" She asked, knowing he was up to something. "You've done something. There isn't going to be ice in the bathtub tomorrow morning will there? Because that is so not a reasonable substitute."

Cappie settled on his back, with his hands locked behind his head. "Well, some good friends of mine own a cabin up in some mountains about 45 miles south of San Diego. I got permission to spend Christmas down there with a certain snow obsessed lady of mine."

"If that's not me, I'm going to hurt you." Casey said, unable to keep the smile off her face, or out of her voice. "Cappie really?"  
He nodded with a happy grin on his own face, and then pulled her down to his chest. "I'm looking forward to being pelted with frozen balls of water." He nipped at her ear. "I'm looking forward to drinking hot chocolate, and cuddling in front of the fire, and being afraid my fingers are going to fall off with the cold….."

* * *

The road up to the cabin was winding, and narrow, with rocks that appeared perched precariously in the snow-covered hillside.

"Slow down, please." Casey asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the thousand feet or so to her left that they seemed to be only inches away from.

Cappie laughed. "Oh relax. I'm a great driver."

As if on cue, a deer appeared in the road in front of them, and Casey screamed. Cappie jerked the car to avoid hitting the animal, and they slid off the road into a snow bank.

"God, are you okay Casey? Baby, are you alright?"  
Casey pried her eyes open, sighing with relief when she realized they were simply stuck, and no harm had been done to anyone or anything. She was furious with Cappie though, and simply glared at him.

He came over to help her out of the car, but she refused him, and went to stand by the side of the road. It was only about three in the afternoon, and a car came along within twenty minutes.

The driver was a kindly old man who helped them get their luggage into his car, and then drove them up the hill to reach a beautiful two story cabin with a long driveway.

"I'll send a truck over for your car." He drove away promising.

Cappie turned to Casey pleadingly. "Case, I'm sorry. You're so right, I should have slowed down. But we're both okay, and we're here, and look snow!"

The place looked like a winter wonderland, with icicles hanging from the deck above the garage, and the snow glittering in the afternoon sun.

As Cappie turned to unlock the door, she chucked a hastily packed snowball at the back of his head. He froze for a second, before whirling around, and tackling her into the snow.

"Hey!" She shrieked. "That is not in the rules of snowball fighting! This is a no contact sport!"

He kissed her in response, and she kissed back, enjoying the warming sensation of his mouth on hers….until he slid snow into her shirt.

"OOOOHHH!" She squirmed, trying to get the cold wet stuff out. "So cheating."

She wriggled free of his hold, and sprinted to the front door. Cappie followed her, fishing the keys out of his pocket. The door unlocked easily, and Casey was surprised at the rush of warm air that flowed out. "Are you sure no one is here? You did say this Christmas right?"  
Cappie poked his head in the second door. "Hello?" He called, but there was no response. He turned back to her. "Nope, I'm sure. My buddy must have just come earlier to heat things up."

Sure enough, embers were burning in the stone hearth. Cappie found a black iron poker, and stoked the fire until it glowed brightly. Casey set about getting dinner ready, imagining that she and Cappie owned a place like this, and they lived all by themselves in the woods. Actually, she would miss the bustling of the city, very much, but it would be fabulous to have a cabin to go to for long weekends.

When darkness fell, and it fell early in the mountains, rather than move upstairs, where the heater was weaker, they spread a few blankets out on the floor by the fire, and with the fire crackling in their ears they fell asleep.

Somewhere at about one in the morning, the distinctive sound of bells roused Casey from her sleep. She listened intently, and upon hearing them further, she shook Cappie awake.

"Mm, what is it, Case?" He asked sleepily.

"I think I hear reindeer." She told him. "Hear the bells?"

He sat up, and cocked his head. "And tapping…" Cappie grinned at her. "Santa must be here."

She hadn't believed in Santa since she was a young child, but she did believe that Cappie was a genius, and that he enjoyed using his genius ness in ways that may not be the most beneficial way. "Okay." She replied, still suspicious. "Let's go check it out."

They pulled on their jackets, hats, and gloves, and opened the sliding door to get onto the wooden wrap-around porch. On the railing, around the corner, was an odd device that was tapping on the railing. On the other end of it were tinkling silver bells. The whole thing was hooked up to a timer.

"Santa, huh?" Casey asked, leaning up to kiss her boyfriend. "Very cute."

He pulled a box out of his pocket. "See, I have something special to give you, and I wanted to do it in a special way. Plus, we don't have a Christmas tree."

Her heart was pounding as he opened the blue box. Inside were diamond KT letters. Her breath left her in a whoosh as she used the tips of her fingers to lift them gently off the silky interior.

"It's not a ring, I know." Cappie continued nervously. "But it's only been a year, and I always wanted to lavaliere you, and these are only some of the diamonds I'm going to eventually get on you. I just thought I'd start you off small."

"It is so beautiful, Cappie."

She kissed him again, longer and deeper this time. They ended up inside, curled up in front of the now roaring fire.

"So, I was thinking." Cappie said. "When we get married…"  
"When you ask me."

He ignored her. "We can get a plot of land around here. I know of a few that have been on the market for years, and are big with plenty of room to build a place like this."

"Sounds great." She replied, meaning it with all of her heart.

Cappie just smiled at her. "Merry Christmas, Casey."

**Merry Christmas everyone.**

**I hope you are all having fabulous holidays, and are spending lots of time with the people who matter to you the most. And your family. ;)**

**Please review!**


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